Duhok International Film Festival kicks off
ERBIL (Kurdistan) – The 10th Duhok Film Festival, sponsored by Kurdistan 24, kicked off on Saturday by Duhok Film Festival President Amir Ali at Duhok University, where it is scheduled to last until Dec. 16.
The official Poster of the 10th Duhok International Film Festival pic.twitter.com/UJBjiWQOVw
— Duhok IFF (@DuhokIFF) December 3, 2023
The official theme this year 'mother tongue'. "Since the language is one of the powerful tools for cultural exchange and communication, and cinema itself delivers its humanitarian message through language," the website of the Duhok Film Festival reads.
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Kurdish filmmaker Mansour Jahani told Kurdistan 24 that the festival opened with the film ‘Baghdad Messi’ directed by Belgian Kurdish filmmaker Sahim Omar Kalifa. The movie was filmed in the Kurdistan Region and Mosul.
Mr. Jahani revealed that the members of the jury for the international competition section have been appointed.
The jury includes Emin Alper, who is the jury’s president, Iranian director and screenwriter Mahsa Mohib Ali, Indian novelist and screenwriter Nirmal Dehl, Polish actor Artur Zaborski, and journalist Shabnam Zaryab.
Ravand Zaid, the planning director for the festival, said that seven films have been selected for the competition and documentary section, which are ‘The Taste of Water’ directed by Ebrahim Saeedi, ‘Hiding Saddam Hussein’ directed by Halkawt Mustafa, 'Nisho's Flute' by Sedat Kıran, ‘Daughters of the Sun’ directed by Reber Dosky, ‘Iraq's Invisible Beauty’ directed by Sahim Omar Kalifa and Jurgen Buedts, 'Spiritual Reality' by Devrim Tekınoglu.
The Reality of Spirituality’ by Durim Tekinoğlu and ‘Dekan Cave Massacre’ directed by Nabaz Ahmed.
Furthermore, 12 films had been selected for the short story category, while nine films had been selected for the World Cinema Competition section.
The festival will screen 116 films from diverse countries in a framework of high-budget films, short films, and documentaries under the slogan "Kurdish Language," stressing the preservation of the Kurdish mother tongue in foreign countries.
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Previously in November, another Kurdish festival, the 14th annual Hamburg Kurdish Film Festival (HKFF), was held in Germany with the presence of the large Kurdish diaspora in Europe. Notably, the festival screened 19 films covering a range of topics such as Kurdish resistance, women’s rights, and ongoing crimes against the ethnic group.
Additional reporting by Wladimir van Wilgenburg